The Pirate Bay could be blocked in the UK within months

The Swedish filesharing site – the world’s biggest – could be blocked by UK internet service providers in a case brought by a consortium of major labels.

Following a landmark ruling last year that ordered service providers BT to block access to filesharing site Newzbin2, Mr. Justice Arnold this week found the website guilty of “actively encouraging” copyright infringement.

“In my judgment, the operators of TPB do authorize its users’ infringing acts of copying and communication to the public”, he said. “They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting. On any view, they ‘sanction, approve and countenance’ the infringements of copyright committed by its users. But in my view they also purport to grant users the right to do the acts complained of.

“It is no defense that they openly defy the rights of the copyright owners. I would add that I consider the present case to be indistinguishable from 20C Fox v Newzbin in this respect. If anything, it is a stronger case.”

Following the ruling, the site could be blocked to UK users in a matter of months.